German e-car sales double / Energiewende at sea

Sales of e-cars in Germany almost doubled in March, according to statistics by the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA). Registrations of new fully electric vehicles rose 98.5 percent year-on-year to 2.191 units (0.6 percent of total registrations), while plug-in hybrids went up 77.4 percent to 2.288 units (also a share of 0.6 percent). New registrations of petrol cars increased 21.8 percent, while diesel sales fell 2.8 percent.

Germany’s economy ministry (BMWi), together with industry associations VSM and VDMA, has started an initiative intended to implement energy transition in maritime traffic, news agency Reuters reports. At the 10th National Maritime Conference in Hamburg, the initiators said emissions in the shipping industry will be lowered by employing more efficient diesel engines as well as efficient hybrid and gas engines. Energy supply in German harbours would be covered by renewable sources, while energy demand was going to be optimised via better digital connection between shipping companies and cargo logistics providers, Reuters writes.

The chief of the German chancellery, Peter Altmaier, says Germany can still meet its own national 2020 climate protection goals despite increased emissions in 2016. He told public TV channel ZDF’s show “Berlin direkt” that he would “not give up on the goal” of outperforming common European emissions reduction targets in Germany by 2020. Altmaier said Germany would surely meet common European goals but fulfilling national aims was more difficult because of their greater ambition. Recent emissions increases were linked to Germany’s economic growth, which at the same time had produced “millions of new jobs” and greater export volumes. Germany already “demands a lot from its citizens” in the form of greater power costs to advance renewables expansion. The country has to remain an industrial location despite its commitment to climate protection, Altmaier added.

See the video in German here (availability depending on your location).

Wind and PV power systems installed in Germany produced about 12.5 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) in March, reports Sandra Enkhardt in pv magazine. This is the largest production from wind and solar energy sources ever registered in the country, according to provisional numbers released by renewable energy industry institute IWR.

Germany's ambitious greenhouse gas reduction plans are facing a major obstacle: an apparent addiction to coal, reports Irene Banos Ruiz for Deutsche Welle. Mining company RWE is planning the expansion of some of Europe's biggest coal mines, Garzweiler and Hambach, while climate activists occupying a nearby forest try to prevent it from getting cut down in “Germany's biggest coal battleground”. According to an analysis by climate NGO Sandbag published this week, German lignite plants make up seven out of 10 of Europe’s biggest CO2 polluters.

Germany might prevent the adoption of stricter EU emission rules for lignite plants, reports Malte Kreutzfeldt in left-wing newspaper tageszeitung (taz). According to the environment ministry, it remains undecided whether Germany will oppose the new rules in a vote scheduled for 28 April. The environment ministry and the Federal Environmental Agency (UBA) both argue the new rules would require expensive investments at lignite plants with little benefits. Environmental organisations say they are outraged because old lignite plants seem more important to the government than citizens’ health.

Fifty-nine percent of the new company will be owned by Siemens. while Gamesa stockholders hold 41 percent, according to Windkraft-Journal. Siemens Wind Power-Gamesa has an installed capacity of 69 gigawatt worldwide and a revenue of 9.3 billion euros, it adds.